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Sunday, March 18, 2012

This week was fun;) The time change threw us off a bit... but we embraced it!

The kids had been waking up each morning around 7ish, so when the time changed last Saturday so did their "wake up" times! Like little clocks, they all started "sleeping in" until 8ish. I guess I could have been a little firmer about when to "get up", but instead I enjoyed a quiet shower and time with the ones that did wake "early".

Sure, it messed with our school times:) We started school later and schooled into the afternoon more. But we still finished all I had planned and had plenty of outside time.... the weather was gorgeous;) We were able to enjoy one of the blessings of home schooling..... flexibility:)

Last weekend we finally bought some new wipe board markers!! Ours were in BAD shape, I need to start asking for them in MY stocking at Christmas because they just do NOT last at my house. But of course new markers was exciting for everyone and we used them like crazy this week!! Wipe boards are our home schooling "must have".... we use them for everything; as you will see this week;)

Language Arts
Lydia and Chris did a couple lessons in First Language Lessons. One lesson was doing an oral narration of The Three Little Kittens. Well they love that little rhyme so much that they added in some writing(Lydia) and a picture (Chris)!!

More Grammar with Chris and Lydia together, with their wipe boards:)

With the new markers, we decided Chris could unscramble his spelling words this week:) He liked it a LOT... which was great because I realized after he had done 5 or 6 words that I was giving him the words from last week!! LOL!!

Chris also made an interesting story with three of his spelling words. I was initially worried that he wasn't going to be able to make individual sentences with the words, but Chris makes a story... he's got more creativity than I have ever had. And his story sounds soo mature... cracks me up!

Math
Chris using the wipe boards for his math lesson. He drew a pocket to put the correct amount of money in.... whatever makes it fun for him:)

And I loved this one of Anna! She needed help with converting cups to quarts so she ran to get Gallon Man! And then she tucked him under her arm until she was finished the assignment and could put him back;)

Anna loving the new wipe markers, too:)

History
Like planned, Anna finished the lapbook:) Yay! Although I do want to add a little piece that talks about the battle of Yorktown!! I haven't taken pictures of it yet... so maybe I can sneak that in next week, or do a separate post sometime soon!

We also finished all the episodes of Liberty's Kids. They had to watch EACH ONE!! But it really was a great view into the American Revolution and covered all the battles, making the Declaration of Independence, slavery, the life of Benjamin Franklin and George Washington and the challenges of beginning a new nation.

One afternoon, I played a simple review game with the kids. Using their Story of the World Activity book as my guide for making questions, I asked the kids questions and rewarded them with SweetTarts for correct answers. Oh MY!! They had a blast.... and I was very pleased with all that they had retained. Obviously, Anna and Chris had really absorbed a lot and Lydia used George Washington as an answer to a lot of questions;) LOL!!

Anna recited the portion of the Declaration of Independence that we had been working to memory the last two weeks! (I"m working on getting it vertical... sorry!)

Science
In an effort to avoid Chemistry.... LOL, just kidding... we spent the week preparing for a field trip to a local Nature Center. The focus of the field trip was going to center around local reptiles, especially snakes and turtles. So we collected some library books and spent an afternoon on snakes and another on turtles.

Since the kids and I have studied these animals before when we did "Biology" 2 years ago, I didn't want to concentrate on what they already knew, so I used a KWL chart. I learned about them in college and have used them before with the kids.

This "method" worked out perfectly for us because I was able to see what they kids did know, they were able to ask questions about each animal for us to find out and then we learned all sorts of new things;)

For snakes, I wrote out the KWL chart on the wipe boards and then onto a piece of paper that I photocopied for each kiddos science notebook. They drew pictures... Lydia's and Chris'! When we did turtles I wrote it out on the wipe boards again, but the kids wanted to copy it themselves onto paper folded in thirds long ways.... it was cute to see them all copying;) And they didn't copy ALL the information, well Anna did, but Lydia and Chris did a few statements or questions for each section.

On Friday, we had a great field trip... turtle touch tank, exhibit with snakes!, a presentation/discussion about snakes by a staff member at the nature center and the kids got to touch the snake!! Then we took to the trails to find some wildlife in the wild. Our little "hike" turned into a HIKE. We walked at least 2 miles... LOL!! Thankfully we were with a couple of families we have enjoyed getting to know and so it wasn't too bad... they were definitely ready for a SONIC stop after 2:)

too many pictures to post one at a time;) All can be found on my flickr account:) Here's a collage though!

Tot in the School Room
One nice thing about schooling in the dining room right now is that Nate can do messy things in his high chair;) Like finger paint!

And he spent just as much time finger painting as he did cleaning up with a couple of wipes;)

2 comments:

I remember the KWL charts from college! What a perfect way to get ready for the field trip.

You guys had a great week. The video was so cute of Anna reciting the Declaration, Chris trying to sneak in and Nate snacking in the back. Funny!

I am always amazed at their handwriting. Especially Lydia, she's so little! Hmm...I may need to buy some small wipe boards. I have a large one that I write vocab words on, as we read. However, she might like her own!

The Crew

We are a young family with 4 little sweet blessings!! Together we are learning to love the Lord, each other, our extended family, friends and our neighbors!

Anna is 12 and is the best big sister around!! She works hard in home school enjoying math, science and history! During play she likes being Lydia and Chris' teacher as well as practicing the piano, working with horses and her bunny, Mr Darcy, and

Christopher is 11 and is the definition of "all boy"... LEGOS, fishing, tools and weapons! He loves math and retains details from stories and history amazingly well. We love his drawings and stories, his fort building skills and his compassionate heart. Chris blogs about his drawings.

Lydia is feisty and mature at 9!! She's a princess tomboy... One minute she's sword fighting with her brothers, the next minute she is making bracelets with her sister. Lydia loves reading! Her servant's heart and her contagious smile make her a joy! Lydia blogs about the pets at our house.

Nate is our busy 6 yr old!! He loves his siblings and tries to keep up with them!! He provides the entertainment and a lot of the distractions in our days. It's an exciting time watching him learn new things every moment. We all adore his funny statements and crazy antics!